KR Training 2016-03-12 – Basic Pistol 1 Quick Hits

We had an almost-full house: the class was sold out, but a few people no-showed for unknown reasons. Weather was great, despite the week-long rains that left the ground a bit soggy and marshy. A wonderful day to be outside.

Not much to report here as the nature of BP1 is introductory so there’s not much to tell the attending students other than contact us with any questions. We’re happy to help out.

I will point out a few things from the KR Training website that I mentioned:

In related news, a student came with a gun and wanted to try it out. So after class he and I went back to the range and ran through a few things. The gun was a Ruger 9E. First time I’ve gotten to handle one, and I must say I’m not terribly impressed.

It’s not a horrible gun: it certainly seemed functional and serviceable. It would be interesting to see how well it could handle a high-stress class. But what got me about it was the manual thumb safety. It was damn near impossible to actuate with your thumb. Oh sure I could get it eventually, and there’d be much struggling and failing. But geez, why? That’s the LAST thing you need in a piece of life-safety equipment. Just about an hour prior I had this student shooting a 1911, so he was able to have a reference point of how a good manual thumb safety works.

I just can’t jive with such a design. I won’t call it a flaw, because they obviously designed it this way as a feature. But it’s not a feature I would want. The manual thumb safety doesn’t operate easily, you fail to operate it numerous times, and gee if that’s not something you need to have go wrong when your life depends on it.

Oh, and apparently it has a magazine disconnect too. That will complicate dry fire practice.

It wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but in my experience and opinion, there’s better stuff out there. So yeah… I figure he’s going to go shopping soon. 🙂 Looking forward to seeing what he settles on.

Anyways, a good day to be outside. Thank you all for coming and spending your time with us today.